Thursday, July 16, 2009

Café Basilico – Bistro and Deli

It was the second day of our reunion gala, and as usual we were stuck in Bandra. We were more than tired of our usual hangouts (Mocha, Red Box, China Gate etc.). The day before we had gone to Phoenix Mills to celebrate a birthday and we ended up eating at Bombay Blues and buying clothes from U.C.B. Today I was treating for my birthday after six whole months. We thought of going to Noodle bar but it didn’t feel all that exciting. Then we crossed Papa Pancho and I remembered the day when after a horrible Pace exam we had decided to drown our sorrows by blowing cash. We decided to go to Basilico, not a very wise decision because we had to leave after looking at the menu card. When I said we were going to blow cash I meant the cash we had on us. So we got out all red faced, while the waiters eyed us like we were filth. But I always meant to go back there, so we had made our decision. It was going to be Basilico again after two whole years.

We got their by one which was a wee bit early for lunch. But we got really nice tables, far from the kitchen but still visible to the waiters. The décor was mostly organic green and woody, low lighting and loud conversations and slow music. We were five of us and all of us believe in experimenting .We had pretty much had it with pastas but we still wanted Italian food. This restaurant serves mostly a mix of Italian , Moroccan and American food. We quickly decided on the appetizers- Fresh tomato and basil bruschetta ( Rs.260/-) which was basically French baguette topped with fresh cherry tomatoes , basil ,cheddar tossed in garlic paprika. The tomatoes were fresh and the bread was well done but the portions were really tiny. The service was at snails pace so we decided to order the entrees and desserts together. By now the place was filled. It was surprising , being a Wednesday afternoon and we even managed to do a little celebrity spotting.

As entrees we ordered a creamy mushroom risotto ( Rs.350/-) which was a basic risotto served with fresh mushrooms, speed gazpacho salsa (yum!!) fresh oregano and extra virgin olive oil. The portions disappointed us again but it made up on the flavour. We also had a spinach and cottage cheese ravioli in white sauce ( Rs.400/-) which is a pasta stuffed with spinach and cottage cheese. I liked the filling but the white sauce did not impress me much. We also had an open rustic lasagne ( Rs.400/-). This was different from a basic lasagne because it had a nice assortment of grilled vegetables and just the right kind of basil pesto to go with it. To complete it we ordered a penne paprika ( Rs.350/-) ,since we just had to have a pasta, which was apparently supposed to be penne with broccoli in a rich paprika cream sauce but tasted more like an arabiata. Even though it tasted good but it was not exactly what we had in mind. The garlic bread kept coming (Rs.100 each).

But the meal was not over yet. The most important part was still to come. Dessert!!. We ordered a gooey chocolate cake( Rs.250/-). It was the star of the lunch. A beautiful chocolate cake with rich chocolate sauce dripping from it. We also had a fresh blueberry cheesecake (Rs.250/-)which was pretty good, but I have had better. We also had an apple pie(Rs.250/-), which I did not like one bit. It had too much cinnamon which completely drowned the apple flavour. We would have ordered drinks but the drink menu only had canned juices and soft drinks ,so we decided to skip it.

Overall we had a nice time catching up on all the gossip ,eating good food and listening to horrible music. It’s a nice place to see and be seen ,but make sure your pockets are full. A meal for two would cost around Rs.1500/- without the drinks.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

I broke a nail

My French manicure has gone down the drain and it was just two days old. This just proves that baby sitting is a tough job. It is not meant for the faint hearted. It is exhausting as it involves a serious amount of running around, picking up from class, dropping to class, cleaning around etc. Especially when you are dealing with a cranky two year old, an accident prone six year old and a highly demanding twelve year old. Not that it’s not fun. I just adore kids particularly when they are asleep. Until last year I myself was a kid and I simply adored myself. But they do get on your nerves at times.

Research has shown that the attention span of children is steadily decreasing as we are advancing in technology. Even the amount of information that they can register is declining. Not true. I have proof. It’s easy and can be safely performed at home. The first step is to switch on your television set to a music channel. Now place your two year old gently before it. The child will not respond to any name calling, actions, food ,anything. The eyes will be fixed till you don’t switch it off. Theorem one hence proved. Now for the second theorem we take the same child and play a number the have heard before. If you are lucky along with the out of tune lyrics you will be rewarded with a hip jiggling number (inclusive of all the matkas and jhatkas ) . This justifies that they have a much higher memory power than what we had at their age.
To perform the next experiment we will need half a dozen two year olds. Place them in a room full of toys and games and awesome goodies. Now to stimulate the reaction place a cranky kid in the centre of the room, in a few seconds you will observe loud noises coming from the room. On entering the room you will observe that every single child is howling at the top of their lungs. You have just been successful in stimulating a chain reaction using children.

Being six is a tough job. You have just entered second grade which is so much tougher than the first grade. You have suddenly lost your front teeth. This time when peer pressure starts coming around. Other than school you are juggling violin lessons, piano lessons, basket ball class, swimming lesson and an extra math class. And along with all of this you are turning seven in a week. You have to have the best birthday bash. It has to have everything- tattoo artists, hair braiding, magicians , jugglers ,jewellery making, puppet show, big screen movie, horse riding, ferries wheel, toy train etc. But you don’t want to go too overboard. You have to appear original at the same time. To top it off you realise the violin and piano lessons are a waste of time , you are actually interested in pop rock. I was at shoppers with my cousin looking for a birthday dress. When all of a sudden she went missing. Then we heard loud noises coming from the dressing room and there she was singing the very famous temperature by Sean Paul after locking herself up in the room. I think this much pressure is enough to blow the top off any kid. To top it off she broke a finger at her basket ball class. Ouch.

I think being twelve is the most difficult part of ones life. It’s a state of confusion when only those things that are wrong appear right. You firmly start to believe in its either my way or the highway. Your body is developing in a weird way. Stuff is happening. You have finally reached the stage where you can’t buy clothing from kids stores cause they don’t stock your size. You can finally wear adult clothing. Then you see Kareena Kapoor and you decide to give up food. You even start wearing clothes similar to hers but your parents have a problem with that. Guys have finally started noticing you( they are finally over the cuddy’s phase). And then hell breaks loose. It’s the worst time of your life. You don’t know how you will ever face the world again. You have developed a zit. You are desperate to get rid of it. You have spoken to your mum, all your aunts, and grand mum about it. You have tried all their remedies, given up oil and your favourite chocolates. You have also consulted a dermatologist. But the zit is still persistent. And that’s not the only problem in life. You suddenly realise you are being pushed harder to study. Your parents have already started talking about the IITs and the wonderful careers they never had. You finally end up feeling like an ugly duckling with an older woman’s wardrobe and demented parents.

But honey,
Dats life

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Where do i start??

What are the qualifications required to be a writer? Essentialy a blogger? Quiet frankly I dunno .Do they have a book called “Writing for Dummies”. They probably do. If books entitled “Divorce for Dummies “ can exist (remember the scene from “Little Manhattan”) ,anything is possible. This whole thing about writing is that I have been hanging out with Hannah , this friend cum neighbour, and we discussed people without any knack or skill who have penned down whole books and it just made me wonder about those who are just wasting this talent and I actually happen to know such people (my grandma for instance) and I feel really sad for them. I think it’s just a question of getting your butt down and just writing. This made me realise that if people who do not possess the ability to produce best selling or even just selling books can do this I probably should give it a shot.

So that’s me ,hardly anything original, most of the time doing stuff a million people have already done and a million people are still to do. I completely identify myself with Mia Thermopolis (“Princess Diaries” the books ,the movies you must have come across it). And that’s way before she find’s out she is a princess .Oh yeah!!!! I have zero self-confidence exactly like her. Just add 50 pounds more , take off the braces and remove the curly hair and VOILA ,you have me!!!! The whole thing about writing is that I am a very avid reader. I can read nearly anything and everything. I get nightmares if I don’t read a book before I doze of. I am actually a little worried about that. So I think this can be a reason for developing an interest in the art of writing. I was always good at writing from life experiences in school and also I am great at making up stuff. But I think what sells today is a witty, chatty, funny author. But I have made up my mind to give it a try and I am definitely ready to do so.

Until next time,
Ciao…